Some lessons from the election

Published: Wednesday, November 14, 2012 at 2:54 p.m.

Last Modified: Wednesday, November 14, 2012 at 2:54 p.m.

A couple readers of my columns — obviously very, very intelligent people with a thirst for knowledge who wish to stay well informed — told me that we would probably differ on our presidential choices.

I interpreted that to mean they assumed that, as a black person, I would be an Obama supporter.

That assumption made me uneasy.

I have always lived by this motto: If you follow the herd, you end up a T-bone.

Well, I did vote for Obama even though I felt that Romney was the better choice.

So why didn't I vote for Romney? Because I feel that government is a “people” endeavor, not a “corporate” endeavor.

Based on personal experiences of being an elected councilman, helping family members who were high elected officials come to decisions and watching how governments on all levels must address and balance the needs of people, I know a leader must be able to understand and relate to the needs of people and have the compassion and temperament to balance.

He cannot view people as bottom lines on a spread sheet.

Spread sheets do not allow for Katrinas and Sandys.

It appears that a lot of Americans shared some form of that philosophy on Nov. 6.

You have to get old like me to realize and to accept this: The best fit is not always the best person.

The U.S. Supreme Court is grateful to the voters of Lafourche and Terrebonne parishes for your guidance in a sticky case it recently heard and must decide.

You voters have shown the court that affirmative action is acceptable to white Southerners — not only acceptable but desired by a 2 to 1 margin.

What affirmative action? You didn't know that you voted to uphold affirmative action? See, you gotta read closely.

Well, actually your politicians used the old trick of wording something in a way to make you voters think you are voting for one thing when you really are voting for something totally different.

You thought you were voting for term limits on school board members. Actually you were voting on affirmative action. Term limits is affirmative action. Term limits is arbitrarily withholding, taking, denying a position to a qualified person to give it to someone who has not had the position.

Classic affirmative action.

And you upheld it, passed it by a 2 to 1 margin.

So when a black person says, “I want to be elected judge because neither parish has ever had a black person as a judge,” the only thing I want to hear is you pushing the button next to his name.

No whining. You have already voted to agree to the idea. By a 2-to-1 margin.

Contradictions are my favorite form of cynical amusement because people don't realize their contradictions — and don't care. My friend Dave Paul took me with him to visit his friend. His friend's driveway was lined with signs: I vote pro-life; Life is sacred; Abortion is murder. His stance on killing was pretty clear. When we entered his den, the walls were filled with the mounted heads of animals he had killed. And there were various other mounted animals in the room. The unborn are safe with him; it is the living that have to fear. I kept that cynicism to myself, but I did laugh all the way home.

Speaking of contradictions naturally leads to the passing of Issue 2 — also by a 2 to 1 margin — the amendment to the Louisiana Constitution elevating the standard necessary to pass legislation on firearms to one of strict scrutiny.

Besides the point that it probably isn't necessary, it certainly is a contradiction. In a state that has the first, the fifth and the 12th most murderous areas in the United States — metro New Orleans, metro Baton Rouge and metro Shreveport — the difficulty is increased for possible decrease.

Maybe the greatest contradiction, certainly the greatest cynicism, is that nearly all of the murder victims are black, and Louisiana's governor approved the ballot issue knowing the result was a no-brainer. As urged to do so by Louisiana law enforcement, he could have vetoed it at no political cost. And to compound his cynicism, Jindal shows up at the funeral of the two St. John the Baptist Parish deputies who were shot and killed knowing that he is making it easier for another police officer to meet the same fate.

Somewhere someone is looking at Louisiana and asking, “What the hell are you thinking?”

Charles Mosley, a former head of the Lafourche NAACP, lives in Thibodaux.

<p>A couple readers of my columns — obviously very, very intelligent people with a thirst for knowledge who wish to stay well informed — told me that we would probably differ on our presidential choices.</p><p>I interpreted that to mean they assumed that, as a black person, I would be an Obama supporter.</p><p>That assumption made me uneasy.</p><p>I have always lived by this motto: If you follow the herd, you end up a T-bone.</p><p>Well, I did vote for Obama even though I felt that Romney was the better choice.</p><p>So why didn't I vote for Romney? Because I feel that government is a “people” endeavor, not a “corporate” endeavor.</p><p>Based on personal experiences of being an elected councilman, helping family members who were high elected officials come to decisions and watching how governments on all levels must address and balance the needs of people, I know a leader must be able to understand and relate to the needs of people and have the compassion and temperament to balance.</p><p>He cannot view people as bottom lines on a spread sheet.</p><p>Spread sheets do not allow for Katrinas and Sandys.</p><p>It appears that a lot of Americans shared some form of that philosophy on Nov. 6.</p><p>You have to get old like me to realize and to accept this: The best fit is not always the best person.</p><p>The U.S. Supreme Court is grateful to the voters of Lafourche and Terrebonne parishes for your guidance in a sticky case it recently heard and must decide.</p><p>You voters have shown the court that affirmative action is acceptable to white Southerners — not only acceptable but desired by a 2 to 1 margin.</p><p>What affirmative action? You didn't know that you voted to uphold affirmative action? See, you gotta read closely.</p><p>Well, actually your politicians used the old trick of wording something in a way to make you voters think you are voting for one thing when you really are voting for something totally different.</p><p>You thought you were voting for term limits on school board members. Actually you were voting on affirmative action. Term limits is affirmative action. Term limits is arbitrarily withholding, taking, denying a position to a qualified person to give it to someone who has not had the position.</p><p>Classic affirmative action.</p><p>And you upheld it, passed it by a 2 to 1 margin.</p><p>So when a black person says, “I want to be elected judge because neither parish has ever had a black person as a judge,” the only thing I want to hear is you pushing the button next to his name.</p><p>No whining. You have already voted to agree to the idea. By a 2-to-1 margin. </p><p>Contradictions are my favorite form of cynical amusement because people don't realize their contradictions — and don't care. My friend Dave Paul took me with him to visit his friend. His friend's driveway was lined with signs: I vote pro-life; Life is sacred; Abortion is murder. His stance on killing was pretty clear. When we entered his den, the walls were filled with the mounted heads of animals he had killed. And there were various other mounted animals in the room. The unborn are safe with him; it is the living that have to fear. I kept that cynicism to myself, but I did laugh all the way home.</p><p>Speaking of contradictions naturally leads to the passing of Issue 2 — also by a 2 to 1 margin — the amendment to the Louisiana Constitution elevating the standard necessary to pass legislation on firearms to one of strict scrutiny.</p><p>Besides the point that it probably isn't necessary, it certainly is a contradiction. In a state that has the first, the fifth and the 12th most murderous areas in the United States — metro New Orleans, metro Baton Rouge and metro Shreveport — the difficulty is increased for possible decrease.</p><p>Maybe the greatest contradiction, certainly the greatest cynicism, is that nearly all of the murder victims are black, and Louisiana's governor approved the ballot issue knowing the result was a no-brainer. As urged to do so by Louisiana law enforcement, he could have vetoed it at no political cost. And to compound his cynicism, Jindal shows up at the funeral of the two St. John the Baptist Parish deputies who were shot and killed knowing that he is making it easier for another police officer to meet the same fate.</p><p>Somewhere someone is looking at Louisiana and asking, “What the hell are you thinking?”</p><p>Charles Mosley, a former head of the Lafourche NAACP, lives in Thibodaux.</p>